Apparently Saddam Hussein Was a Mary J. Blige Fan

Will Bardenwerper's recently released book on Saddam Hussein, "The Prisoner in His Palace: Saddam Hussein, His American Guards, and What History Leaves Unsaid," is full of intriguing behind-the-scenes details about the dictator, but none is as juicy as his apparent fandom for hip hop star Mary J. Blige, the New York Post reported.

The book is rife with anecdotes. Like the time Saddam got angry at his son Uday for typical kid things—shooting up a party, killing some people, injuring others (among them Saddam's half-brother)—and burned an entire garage full of Uday's cars to the ground as retaliation. He happily destroyed priceless Rolls Royces, Porches, and other expensive cars.

"Laughing wildly, the former dictator recalled how he gleefully watched the inferno," Bardenwerper wrote.

Saddam was surprisingly nice to his American guards tasked with watching over the dictator during his 2006 trial before the Iraqi High Tribunal for executing 148 Shiites from Dujail, Iraq. They transported Saddam between "the Crypt," an underground facility by the tribunal, and "the Rock," a palace on a small island by the Baghdad airport where Hussain was being held.

His captors, who called themselves the Super Twelve, described the despot's demeanor as relatively content while he was imprisoned, saying he found pleasure in writing and smoking Cohiba cigars, a habit he picked up from none other than Fidel Castro.

Saddam also had access to the radio, and his American guards said he would always stop tuning the dial as soon as a Mary J. Blige song came on.

Now just picture Saddam in his prison cell and uniform, dancing while Family Affair and Be Without You are blaring from a tinny radio. You're welcome.

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